Iraqi protesters set up house after occupying parliament

Supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr say he will decide when they should leave

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr during a sit-in at a parliament building in Baghdad, Iraq. Reuters

Moqtada Al Sadr supporters sleeping in the grounds of the Iraqi parliament building complex in Baghdad. Reuters

Protesters inside the parliament building in Baghdad. AP Photo

Protesters at prayer in the parliament building. Reuters

Iraqi men distribute free meals for supporters of Mr Al Sadr during the parliament building sit-in.. Reuters

Anti-corruption protesters in the parliament building in Baghdad, Iraq. Reuters

Protesters during their occupation of the Iraqi parliament building in Baghdad. Reuters

Supporters of Moqtada Al Sadr, head of the Sadrist movement, rest after storming the parliament building in the Green Zone in central Baghdad. EPA

Iraqi security forces were unable to prevent supporters of Mr Al Sadr entering the Green Zone. EPA

Supporters of cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, protesting against a rival bloc's nomination for prime minister, gather inside Iraq's parliament in Baghdad's high-security Green Zone. AFP

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr protest inside the parliament building, in Baghdad. Reuters

A veiled woman protester holds an Iraqi flag as people gather near the Green Zone area, in Baghdad. AP

Supporters of Mr Al Sadr on Saturday entered Iraq's parliament, after hundreds breached the building on Wednesday in similar protests. AFP

Demonstrators wave Iraqi flags and pictures of Mr Al Sadr inside the legislature. AFP

Protesters inside the parliament building. Reuters

Protesters enter the building after thousands of Sadrists had massed at the end of a bridge leading to Baghdad's Green Zone. AFP

The protests are the latest challenge for Iraq, which remains stuck in a political deadlock.

A supporter of Mr Al Sadr waves a flag during the protest at the parliament building. Reuters

Mr Al Sadr's bloc emerged from elections in October as the biggest parliamentary faction, but was still far short of a majority. AFP

Nearly 10 months on, the stalemate persists over the establishment of a new government. AFP

Protesters try to remove concrete barriers, to cross the bridge towards the Green Zone in Baghdad. AP Photo

Security forces gather as supporters of Mr Al Sadr bring down concrete barriers leading to the capital Baghdad's high-security Green Zone. AFP

Not long after protesters stormed Iraq's parliament on Saturday, fleets of pickup trucks began delivering water and hot meals to the thousands of people gathered inside and around the legislature building.

In the gardens outside, protesters pitched a large camouflage tent by the entrance as women with children joined other supporters of the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr in setting up camp.

One man lit a fire to warm some tea while another offered cigarettes for sale as security forces stood by and watched.

Unlike their brief occupation of parliament on Wednesday, the protesters appear set to stay until Iraq's political deadlock is resolved to their leader's satisfaction.

“The demonstrators announce a sit-in until further notice,” Mr Al Sadr's movement said in a brief statement carried by the state news agency on Saturday.

Iraq's squabbling political factions have been unable to move forward with forming a government for nearly 10 months since a general election.

Mr Al Sadr rallied his supporters after the Co-ordination Framework, an alliance of Shiite parties close to Iran, put forward an ally of former prime minister Nouri Al Maliki, the cleric's long-time rival, as a candidate for prime minister.

Inside the parliament building, some protesters sat at legislators' desks while others milled about, raising their mobile phones to film the occupation.

The devout recited religious chants marking the Muslim month of Muharram, which starts on Sunday and is a key period in the Shiite religious calendar.

“It's Moqtada Sadr who decides,” said protester Umm Mahdi, cloaked from head to foot in a black robe.

“When he tells us to go home, we will leave,” she told AFP, surrounded by her four children, one of them a newborn baby, and three female cousins.

“Obeying the sayyed is the most important thing,” she said, using an honorific given to Mr Al Sadr as a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.

Zeinab Hussein said she had “left behind her home and her family” to join the sit-in.

Like many of the protesters, she wanted an end to the corruption that she said has denied oil-rich Iraq even basic services.

“Why is there no electricity in Iraq?” she asked. “Where is all the oil money going?”

A lack of public services and widespread corruption are grievances shared by almost all Iraqis.

“Corruption has infected all government departments,” said Sayed Haidar, a 35-year-old day labourer from the Baghdad Shiite district of Sadr City.

“Nobody can obtain anything from the state or from a government ministry without having connections with a political party.”

As a part of power-sharing arrangements involved in the formation of Iraq's governments, the Sadrists too have their representatives at the highest levels of ministries, but in the eyes of the protesters, that does nothing to diminish the cleric's standing.

“He is the only person in Iraq who stands up for the poor,” Mr Haidar said.

With reporting from agencies.